Swift: From the beginning

Thought I would relay my experience with Swift. I live in Las Vegas and attended Swift orientation in Phoenix Az starting on Jan 5th (wed class) Just a note for you, if you are interested in Flat bed division, make sure you start orientation on the monday class. No one is chosen from wed class.

They have classes that start every mon and wed. When arrived wed morning, the wed class was on last day(about 50 people) The class I was in had 31 people. The first day was a short one(about 4 hours). Just did a bunch of paperwork, drug test, and physical. Also, if you arrive at orientation and havent driven a truck in the previous 30 days you WILL have to take a road test. We lost 1 guy after road test that was sent home. I received my CDL Dec 17th so no road test for me. I spoke with a guy who took road test and he said it was very basic, shifting, a few turns and a strait line back.

Day 2 started at 7am and dont be late, they lock the door about 7:03 if you are not there you will be sent home. Swift stresses being on time and they figure if you cant be on time to class, you probably dont care about arriving at customers on time. The day consisted of basics like benefits, payroll, safety, canadien ops, a few speakers came in from diffrent departments. The day ended about 4:30, a shuttle was available to take you back to the hotel (very nice accomodations), 2 people to a room. On a side note, we lost about 3 people on day 2. Usually due to medical issues or failed drug tests or backround stuff they find.

Day 3 started at 7 again. The day consisted of a log book class, hazmat info, maintenance dept speaker, security department, and Driver manager info, and qualcom. We were told that there was a backup to get a mentor and we would all probably get sent back home to wait. The monday class had 50 students and about 10 got mentors after orientation finished for them on Wednsday. So for our group of 30 it didnt look good. Swift previously held Mentor training classes once a month, now they run once per week to get more mentors on line. At the end of the day, most everyone got a driver code. The ones that didnt were told not to worry and to call monday to receive(they were behind due to holiday).

At about 4:45 they handed out bus tickets to the out of town people (me included) and gave us final instructions on what to do when you got back home. About 5 minutes later they called 2 names and said they needed to see them (I was one of the 2)and the rest could leave and head home. I walk up to the desk wondering what I did wrong.. lol.. they said give my your bus ticket. I said, how will I get home? They said you're not going home, you have been assigned a mentor. I was in shock a little bit because I was planning on spending some time back home before I got my mentor. Im still trying to figure out how I got selected and 28 other guys and girls got sent home.

So about 5 minutes later my phone rings and I dont recognize the number but I answer and it was my mentor asking where I was and that he was in the building. I tracked him down a few minutes later and we met and he asked if I was ready to go to his truck. I said yes and no.. hehe.. You see, my recruiter told me to pack for only 3 days for orientation because we would be sent home to wait for mentor. So I only had a bag full of dirty laundry at this point, no bedding, no boots, no nothing basically.

Once we got out to his truck, I explained my situation and he understood. He said we dont have a load till next day and there was a walmart nearby that I could by some essentials and laundry facilities at drivers lounge to wash my clothes. My mentor is an O/O at swift and he just got into a new truck that day and spent the day moving from old truck into new one. I told I was going to walk to walmart to buy a sleeping bag and pillow, some gloves and a blanket. I had tennis shoes to wear but left my boots at home. He said he needed a few items at walmart also so we bobtailed in his truck to get there. He offered to let me drive but I said you just got a new truck and I dont want to be the first one to drive it.. So i do my shopping we go back and I do my laundry and I go back to truck to get settled in to my new temporary home.

The next day (jan 8th) we get our first load from phoenix going to Topeka Kansas(1200 miles) I was excited and nervous at the same time. My mentors truck has a 9 speed transmission and the school I attended used 10 speeds. So all the road speed vs gear to be in I memorized in school would not work. I figured ill worry about that when the time comes.

I must say that my mentor has made me feel very relaxed so far. He explained that he doesnt yell and scream at students, that I would be under no pressure to get things done. He said if it takes you 5 trys to back into a spot, no problem you are here to learn. If Im driving and get tired let him know and he will drive for a while. If i need to stop to eat or use restroom let him know and we'll stop. He has a very positive attitude and he seems to be doing the mentoring because he wants to teach and not just in it for the extra pay.

So we are getting ready to leave and he says he will drive first till Flagstaff Az and that I will take over from there. He tells me to relax and just watch how he makes turns and shifts and explains a lot of good stuff on the way to Flagstaff. Once we get there he pulls into a TS and says its my turn... I think to myself, this is it!

I get into the drivers seat at start to work my way out of TS and onto I40 east. I was happy that I didnt forget how to upshift. I think to myself I hope my downshifting is just as good. My mentor made me feel very relaxed while I was driving and made sure I was scanning my mirrors and doing the things im supposed to do. Before I knew it we were at the spot where we would rest for the evening. I ended up driving 4 1/2 hours and went 266 miles. I felt pretty good after day 1. We ended up in Casa Blanca New Mexico. Day 2 started with me driving all the way to Liberal Kansas. 423 miles in 7 hours. My mentor asked how I felt. A lot of the drive was on a US hwy and mostly 2 lanes and quite a few small towns, so I got a lot of experience shifting and stopping at lights and stop signs in these small towns. About every hour my mentor asked how I felt and not to worry if I felt like I was sore or tired and didnt want to drive any more. I said I felt good but it was starting to rain and it was really cold and the ground at store we stopped at felt icey. I said you better drive rest of the way. He told me no problem and that I had done an excellent job. Good thing I stopped driving because about half hour later it starts snowing really hard and you could not even see the lines in the road. We were in the middle of no where at this point and he drove thru it for 6 hours till we finally made it to Salinas Kansas where our route got us back on interstate hwy to get to TS to shut down for the night. I must say my mentor handled that snow like true pro. Im glad I wasnt driving.

Today when we woke up it was still snowing, and we were about 100 miles from the receiver. I couldnt drive today because Swift doesnt want students driving in adverse weather during first week of training. We dropped our load and he got a nice load from Kansas to the Boston area. Good miles for him, but he refused load because weather would not be good along route and I wouldnt be able to drive. He didnt want to waste my sitting because im here to drive. Now that is a sign of a great mentor. We finally got a load for tomorrow going to Oklahoma (only 400 miles) but the weather is lot better south of us so ill be able to drive tomorrow.

Well thats my story so far. My experience at Swift has been very positive so far and I feel I got a dam good mentor. Ive read some of the horror stories of some of the bad ones. Swift realizes there are bad ones and encourages students to call driver services if you have problems. They cant get rid of the idiots if no one reports them. Ill keep updating when I get time during my 6 weeks if anyone is interested.

Goodbye from Kansas

 

Ill tell you exactly how he failed. He got into truck and was told to head out of terminal, he puts truck in gear and tries to move and cant figure out why truck wont move. He was told maybe you better release parking brake. Once he figures that out, heads on the road. At first traffic signal out of terminal he stops at red light. When light turns green he puts it in reverse and starts going backwards. Luckily it was 7am and no cars behind him. He tries to explain to examiner he learned to drive in a 10 speed in school and the truck for test was 8 speed. And the shift pattern wasnt the same... lol.

Does that answer your question?

 

The test truck was a freightliner... O/O means owner operator.

 

Today I woke up and we were still in Topeka Kansas. We decided not to pick up load here till this morning. Good thing because it snowed most of the night and there was about 7 inches of snow on the truck and the temp was 3 degrees. The sun was shining but roads still not to good. After a quick breakfast we headed to Del Monte foods (pet division) for our load that was headed for a family dollar distribution center in Duncan Oklahoma (325 miles) my mentor drove because roads still bad here.

We get to the shipper and they load 45000 pounds of cat and dog food. We head west and mentor drives first 100 miles to Witchita Kansas. At that point I take over driving and drive the last 225 miles to the receiver. It was about 11:00 pm when we arrived. We were told to go to a stageing area and wait 30 minutes. So now I have to do an angled back up at night. It went good and I managed it with only a couple pull ups. About 30 minutes later we get assigned to dock number 117. This place was huge. Driving toward docks, I was praying that no one was parked in dock 118 or116... lol.. My prayers were answered! I had plenty of room for this maneuver. I got it in the hole after 2pull ups It was a live unload, so waited for about an hour and we were on our way.

During the training period Swift requires 240 hours of driving and 40 back ups. So far I have 16 hours of driving (900 miles) and 3 back ups. Time to rest now and dont know where we are headed next. But i'll keep you informed after tomorrows day. Till next time.